THE REAL NAME OF ARTHUR'S FATHER, THE TERRIBLE CHIEF-DRAGON

Julian solidus, c. 361. The obverse shows a bearded Julian with an inscription, FL(AVIVS) CL(AVDIVS) IVLIANVS PP AVG (PP=Pater Patriae, "father of the nation"; AVG=Augustus). The reverse depicts an armed Roman soldier bearing a military standard in one hand and subduing a captive with the other, a reference to the military strength of the Roman Empire, and spells out VIRTVS EXERCITVS ROMANORVM, "the bravery/virtue of the Roman army". Under the soldier one reads SIRM indicating the coin was minted in Sirmium, the home of Constantine's family.

(Courtesy Wikipedia)

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Quite some time ago, I wrote the following two pieces:

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2017/10/julian-dragon-and-his-draco-standard.html

http://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2017/08/a-new-paradigm-for-vortigern-and-uther_24.html

The conclusion I had reached in these blog articles was that Geoffrey of Monmouth had for some reason associated Uther Pendragon with Julian, the son of Constantine III.  This Julian had been named for the famous emperor, Julian the Apostate.  The latter was literally called 'the Dragon.'  He was crowned by a draconarius. Finally, his eyes are described as terrible, and the frightening dragon standards of the dragon corp constantly accompanied him.

While this was an interesting comparison, it really did nothing to help more fully flesh-out the real man lurking behind the title of Uther Pendragon.  But that is merely because I missed something critical.

Only just today I happened to be thinking of the parents of St. Patrick (see https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2019/02/banna-as-home-of-st-patrick-repost.html).  Both bore names found along the Wall in the Roman period.  On a whim, therefore, I went to the Roman Inscriptions of Britain database and plugged the name 'Julian' into the search bar.  What I found was nothing short of amazing!

For the name Julian is found at Banna!

Here are the relevant dedicatory stones:

https://romaninscriptionsofbritain.org/inscriptions/1919

https://romaninscriptionsofbritain.org/inscriptions/1909#RIB

The Julian of Roman Banna was a tribune. According to the NOTITIA DIGNITATUM, the garrison of Banna, the Cohors prima Aelia Dacorum or First Cohort of Aelian Dacians, was commanded by a tribune.  This Julian was the commander in question.  As I've mentioned many times, the Dacians are believed to be the people who introduced the draco standard into the Roman army, and the Aelius Draco on the Ilam Pan was almost certainly a Dacian attached in some way to the Banna fort.

Julian the Tribune was in charge of building a granary. The Birdoswald granaries became the site of the sub-Roman and Dark Age halls, one of which, presumably, belonged to Arthur’s father.

What I would propose, then, is the following: Arthur's father at Banna had inherited the name Julian from descendants of the Roman period tribune Julian, who himself had been stationed at the same fort.  This Dark Age Julian had adopted the traditional use of the draco standard and so became known as the Terrible Chief-dragon.  Geoffrey of Monmouth or his source(s), knowing that Arthur's father was named Julian, had naturally misidentified him with Julian son of Constantine III.

I will add one last interesting detail to all of this.  We have an inscription from the 5th century (401 to 450 or 451 to 500) in Rome of a senator named Artorius Julianus Megethius:

http://db.edcs.eu/epigr/epi_einzel.php?s_sprache=en&p_belegstelle=CIL+06%2C+30130&r_sortierung=Belegstelle

This example shows that the name Julian was found in the Artoria gens during the floruit of Uther Pendragon.  Obviously, we can't make too much of this, given that for some time Britain had been cut off from the Continent.  But it is at least an intriguing coincidence.